\n<\/p>\n
Federal law enforcement arrested and charged two Russian individuals with criminal copyright infringement over their alleged involvement with the pirated ebook Z-Library. Z-Library, which has been around since 2009, billed itself as the \u201cworld\u2019s largest ebook library\u201d before the US government shut down the site earlier this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
According to the Department of Justice<\/a>, the pair in question, Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova, were arrested in Argentina at the request of the US government on November 3rd. In addition to criminal copyright infringement, the two are also facing charges of money laundering and wire fraud. The US government shut down and seized the domains associated with Z-Library at the time of their arrest, but, as noted by Ars Technica<\/em><\/a>, some users are still able to access the site on the dark web. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe defendants are alleged to have operated a website for over a decade whose central purpose was providing stolen intellectual property, in violation of copyright laws,\u201d Michael Driscoll, the FBI\u2019s assistant director in charge said in a statement. \u201cIntellectual property theft crimes deprive their victims of both ingenuity and hard-earned revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Z-Library housed over 11 million pirated ebook titles and academic papers users could download and read for free. Over the years, the site emerged as a resource for students who couldn\u2019t afford to buy pricey college textbooks. The news of its shutdown rippled across social media earlier this month, with a report from Slate<\/em><\/a> highlighting its impact on college students and others who can\u2019t afford to access educational materials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As pointed out by Vice<\/em><\/a>, Napolsky and Ermakova\u2019s arrest comes shortly after the Authors Guild, an organization for writers that advocates for copyright protection, submitted a complaint<\/a> to the Office of the US Trade Representative on October 7th. The complaint cites the growing trend of users on TikTok promoting Z-Library as a way to get books for free, and notes that the \u201czlibrary\u201d hashtag has over 19 million views on the platform. It also mentions another pirated ebook library, Libgen, arguing both sites have an \u201cincalculable and truly devastating\u201d impact on the writing community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n